TRAVELS WITH BOB (Part 2)
Day Three
(Sunday, November 11-2007):
The Lord’s Day
Sunday morning Bob and Deb Eatherton headed 100 plus miles northward from Terre Haute, IN to the Idaville Church for an important congregational meeting while Linda and I traveled south about 20 miles to Sullivan, IN. In 1998, Eddie and Dianna Hammond planted a church there that now runs about 320 for Sunday morning worship. Eddie grew up in Westfield, IL and pastored our Mt. Carroll congregation before planting Crossroads Community Church of God. Little did we know what awaited us!
The church meets in the town’s former opera house or theater located smack dab in the middle of town on Courthouse Square with a café right next door where Eddie loves to hang out and connect with people. The location was unexpected, but the interior décor was even more surprising. It’s a First War era gem with marble stairs, box seats, a wrap-around mezzanine and gilt enhancements everywhere. I’m telling you no other CGGC facility I’ve ever seen has this much class. WOW! While preserving the period look, the space is adapted well for use by the congregation.
The worship team (which is first rate) leads from the stage and the people gather around tables in the auditorium and on the upper level that also has theatre seating. Eddie preaches from a raised platform in front featuring only a stool and lectern. He presented an excellent Veteran’s Day message using several video clips that emphasized how much we owe to the Lord and to those who have faithfully served. He challenged us to remember that freedom is never free and to live lives worthy of the liberty we possess in Christ and in this great country.
After the service and lunch with Eddie and family, Linda and I returned to the hotel in Terre Haute. That evening we made our way westward on route 70 to worship with our Casey-White Oak congregation. We got our directions confused, but nonetheless arrived just as the service began. We had met Pastor David and Sherrill Ridge as well as Associate Pastor Kenny Inman and his wife, Linda, at the meeting Saturday night. After the service, they gave us the royal tour. The church is a merger of two congregations who built their present facility together in 1978. My friend and mentor, Dr. William Ingram Powell or “Bill” as I knew him, pastored Casey-White Oak back in the 1960s. It was nice to meet the congregation of which he spoke so highly. They made us feel very welcome, although at first I think we made quite a few of the people wonder who we were.
Day Four
(Monday, November 12, 2007):
The Land of Lincoln
Monday morning we set off for the “Land of Lincoln” with our first stop in the Charlestown area to visit our East Harrison Street bethel.
East Harrison Street Church
We met Pastor Curtis Weaver (wife Patty) and he gave us a tour of the facility. Marlin and Bonnie Finley live right next door; so, we stopped by to see them. Bonnie is recovering from surgery on both knees. Their son, Lance, my compatriot at the CGGC office, bragged about all the wood he and his dad had cut, split and ranked on his vacation. He described it as “doing man work.” I wanted to see if the facts and the brag lined up. They did as there was a multi-cord stack to prove it. I’ll never doubt Lance again. Ha! We had prayer with Lance’s parents and traveled westward via route 16 through Mattoon where we have two churches: Winebrenner Memorial and Crossover where Brian and Danelle Miller pastor. When we first began as executive director back in June, Linda and I worshipped at Crossover. They’ve renovated a store-front type facility and turned it into a ministry center for the community.
We stayed on 16 to Pana and then headed south on route 51 to Camp Maranatha which is just northwest of Ramsey. What a beautiful setting in the woods and location on a lake! It was raining hard and the gate was closed, but I still saw a site with wonderful ministry potential. The region has several other camps located in its other districts that we didn’t see this trip which when taken all together could provide a comprehensive camping ministry in the region. We headed back north on 51 and stopped to see our Mt. Pleasant church just east of Assumption. Pastor David Beerbower was there and let us walk through the facility. The church is growing and considering the hiring of an associate to help Pastor Dave. They worship about 110 on Sunday morning.
Aerial View of the Mt. Pleasant Church
We continued our drive up 51 to Moweaqua and stopped to see George and Lavon Constant. What a wonderful Christian ministry couple! They’ve been married 69 years and actively pastored in the Illinois Conference for fifty plus years. He began his ministry career as a musician and evangelist, but after some time responded to a call to pastoral ministry. He certainly found inspiration in his father, also George, who labored in the Lord’s vineyard as an early Twentieth century church planter. The elder Constant would move to a community, preach revival and begin a Bible study group which then organized as a congregation. All the while George senior would use his carpentry skills and build a “school house” bethel that he turned over to the newly formed church before moving on to another community to start over. George junior said his father did this some 12 or 14 times in his life. Now that’s what I call a dedicated church planter! We could use some of his tribe today. Here’s a challenge, pastors: When will you and the church you serve birth another? If we all determined (Providence permitting) to do this just once in the next ten years, we could double the number of churches in a decade. Why not pray about this and see if the Lord might want you to take up this challenge? We had a beautiful season of prayer with the Constants before leaving. I count it one of the greatest joys of my work to meet faithful saints like these.
We continued north on 51 to Decatur where we have several congregations. Bob drove us around to see Mound Chapel (Pastor Jeff and Melanie Spence) and Boiling Springs (Keith and Diane Jenkins). We checked into the hotel before heading over to the New Beginnings church facility for our evening meeting. Pastor Mark and Susie Smith planted the church in 1992 and began meeting in a garage. Early on the church purchased a defunct Carter Lumber Yard just off the four-lane and converted (Don’t you just love that word?) it into a church building.
New Beginnings Church
The work really took off and they currently worship in the high 800s. Obviously they are now a multi-staffed congregation. The evening was catered by a church family (the Longs, I believe) who did a super job. The evening program followed the now standard format with Linda and me talking about our vision for the CGGC followed by a time of Q & A.
We met a number of folks for the first time, pastoral couples and church leaders from the Decatur area, although some we knew from the Midwest annual conference in July. We also reacquainted with a number of people we’ve known over the years including Collett McMillion, Gordon and Wilma Jenkins, etc. More and more as we visit across the CGGC I’m finding that we are indeed one people with a common love for Jesus, the Word and the Churches of God. I’m also finding that there is a common desire to make a kingdom difference in our various communities whether they’re located in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois or wherever and around the globe. We are a Church with a mission to make more and better disciples. Can you tell I love what I do?
(more next week)
Ed
SUSAN BOWER PASSES AWAY
Susan Bower, a member of the Churches of God, General Conference Administrative Council, entered into rest on Sunday, November 25, 2007 at her home in Newport, Pennsylvania. She will be greatly missed by her many friends and colleagues in the CGGC.
The following appeared in The Patriot News, November 30, 2007, Harrisburg, PA.
Susan Elaine (Cole) Bower:
Educator, Musician, Church Leader Who Inspired a Generation of Students
A teacher of science and of gifted students whose classes could involve live animals, outdoor wildlife observation, tree measurement, testing stream water chemistry, local inventors, or a visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house, Fallingwater, Susan Bower died early Sunday, November 25, 2007, at her home outside Newport, Pa. She was 52 and had suffered through a three-year battle with cancer.
Ms. Bower spent the last 19 years in the Newport School District, first as an elementary teacher and then as the fifth-grade science teacher and elementary teacher of the gifted. One year she led her students in a video production—including interviews, taping, editing, and post-production—that recorded an oral history of the 1972 flood in Newport. She also co-directed the morning news show on the in-school TV network.
Many of her classes trooped to Little Buffalo State Park to visit the Penn State weather station or to undertake individual research projects involving the flora and fauna. A devoted bird-watcher and amateur ornithologist, Ms. Bower brought to her classroom such wildlife as raptors, reptiles, and woodland mammals. She awed friends and family with her ability to attract hummingbirds and other small birds to her backyard feeders and to identify not only the species but also individuals by name.
Ms. Bower’s teaching expertise earned her a 10-year appointment as the district representative to the Pennsylvania Science and Technology Assessment Advisory Committee, a group charged with writing questions for the state’s science test.
Ms. Bower had previously taught for two years in the Richmond, Ind., schools and for nine years in the West Shore School District, where she also mentored gifted students in grades four to six.
A pianist, organist, flutist, and vocalist, Ms. Bower sang in a women’s trio called Living Hope, which performed throughout the mid-state region, and she directed the choir and music program at the Newport Church of God. A member there for more than 25 years, she served the church as Sunday school teacher, deaconess, and elder and presided over its administrative council for five years.
She spent 25 years in the summer camp program run by the Eastern region of the Churches of God, General Conference, at Doubling Gap Center near Newville. Beginning as a camp counselor, she eventually was co-director for camps for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students and eventually served many years on the camp’s board of directors, most recently as treasurer. She also sat for several years on the church’s national administrative council and undertook mission trips to Haiti and New Mexico.
Her church work earned her two honors. She was twice voted to represent the region at the church’s triennial national conference, and in 2006 received the Towel and Basin Award from the Eastern region for exemplary service to the Churches of God.
The daughter of the Reverend Harry C. Cole, a Church of God pastor for more than 60 years, and of Vera Sylvia (Cole) Cole, a homemaker and now-retired schoolteacher, who live outside Newport, Ms. Bower was born in Celina, Ohio, and raised in Tiffin, Ohio, and Highspire and Newport, Pa. She attended Steelton-Highspire High School and was graduated as an honor student from Newport High School in 1973. While in school she competed in the Miss Cumberland Valley Pageant and was voted as Newport’s representative to the Pennsylvania Laurel Festival.
She earned her baccalaureate degree from Taylor University in Upland, Ind., in 1977 and an M.S. in elementary education in 1983 from Shippensburg University, also in elementary education with an emphasis in gifted education.
Besides her parents, Ms. Bower is survived by a brother, Kenneth Cole and his wife, Rosemarie, of Stirling, N.J., and two sisters, Nancy Nettekoven and her husband, David, of Hershey, Pa., and Cheryl Sakalosky and her husband, Edward, of Harrisburg. She is also survived by her beloved aunt, Grace Van Horn, and her husband, Al, of Findlay, Ohio, and Tucson, Ariz.; numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins in six states; and the six nieces and nephews on whom she doted: Rebekah Nettekoven Tello of Centreville,Va.; Christina, Nathan, Peter, and Bethany Nettekoven of Hershey; and Grace Cole of Stirling, N.J.
A celebration of her life will occur Sunday, December 16, at 3 p.m. at the Highland United Presbyterian Church, 11 Church Road, Newport. Visitation with the family will precede the service, starting at 1:30 p.m. and will continue after the service. Internment will be private.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, those wishing to celebrate Ms. Bower’s life contribute to:
1) the building fund at the Newport Church of God, 515 South Fourth Street, Newport, Pa. 17074, or
2) Camp Yolijwa, Doubling Gap Center, 1550 Doubling Gap Road, Newville, Pa. 17241.
